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The 3rd Annual Canfield Truck & Jeep Fest

Of the eight Truck & Jeep Fest events held around the country, the Canfield, Ohio, event is one of the most active and popular. Perhaps that's because of the close proximity to 4Wheel Drive Hardware in nearby Columbiana and the merging of the company's annual Customer Appreciation event with Truck & Jeep Fest. Yeah, Truck & Jeep Fest-with an emphasis on Jeep

The 'ol Tail Gator gets some serious air during the freestyle portion of the Thunder Drags on Saturday. No carnage on the monster truck front this year, though there was a blown tire.

The 4Wheel Drive Hardware staff started the event weekend on Friday, July 24, 2009, culminating in the Annual Jeep Parade through Columbiana late in the day, and some 150 Jeeps essentially took over the town. The party moved back to the 4WDH store, with a big Show & Shine and swap meet. There was even some action when the store's rockcrawl course was opened to the public, a rare event. Saturday, the party moved down the road a few miles to Canfield.

Sited at the huge Canfield Fairgrounds, the two-day show is more than just static displays and sales tents. Sure, you can see the latest trail gear, talk to the pros from lots of manufacturers of trick equipment, and even score some good deals on gear. You can also get an adrenaline rush from the sight of the Monster Truck Thunder Drags, Tough Trucks duking it out, mud bog mania, burnout competition and the Rock Crawl. Not to mention the ever-popular (with the guys, anyway) Miss Truck & Jeep Fest contest.

The grandstands were full of fans waiting to watch Sean Ford live up to his truck's name and drive his '79 Bronco "Like a Nut." Tough Trucks are always a popular part of the action.

A new spectator event was added to Canfield this year: The NMRO Quad Wars. Imagine a pack of ATVs racing around a course in the infield. Now imagine the riders are some of the most competitive lunatics who ever strapped on an ATV. These guys ride hard, and there were several facemask-to-facemask confrontations, settled by a little one-on-one racing.

You may already know that Canfield offers opportunities to participate in some of the action. The Rock Crawl and mud bog are two such activities, though there are some technical requirements. Two new opportunities emerged this year, in the form of a 4x4 obstacle course and a come-one, come-all free dyno. The obstacle course was set up by the same folks that built the track for the Monsters and Tough Trucks. The dyno was courtesy of Dynomax, which was celebrating its new line of stainless-steel exhaust systems by buying rounds on the dyno for everyone who showed up. It wasn't just any dyno, either: DynoTune is a well-known mobile dyno tuning outfit that's seen at many big events around the country.

Snake Bite rears back, ready to strike!

Once you've a full measure of adrenaline, the Show & Shine offered a lot of truck and Jeep eye candy to ogle, envy, and admire. If you came with a full wallet, the massive 4Wheel Parts sales tent was a smorgasbord of gear, with prices low enough to make your hard-earned bucks go further.

The exact dates for the 4th Annual Canfield Truck & Jeep Fest have not been set as this is being written, but late July is the usual timeframe. Plus, you can consult the sources listed here for more information. The Northeast Ohio venue at Canfield is centrally located to make it accessible to all of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. Now is the time to plan your own Canfield caper.

As with past years, the Rock Crawl was officiated by the Ruffriders 4x4 Club of Goshen, Indiana. Classes ranged from nearly stock to full-tilt buggies. Practice was on Saturday, and the competition ran all day Sunday, usually in front of full stands. (Gulp!) Nothing like a little performance pressure for Mackenzie Crisler in an '87 Toyota.